Peter Parker sits at his heavy duty plank workbench that his uncle had made him in his home's basement, surrounding him are dozens of chemicals and equipment along with scattered papers with the same formula written down, each one with some type of adjustment.Ā
On the lower plank of the desk is more equipment, all belonging, at least in spirit, to Peter inherited by him from his late father; Richard Parker.
Everything a geneticist would need.
Peter is an unusually short twelve year old boy standing at four foot-five. He has an ivory skin tone, short reddish brown hair tightly slicked back with gel, thick round glasses that took up the majority of his face which dulls his amber eyes.
He takes the chemicals he needs before mixing them in a clean test tube.
With bated breath he watches as a thick white substance forms and expands before it collapses into itself, solidifying and turning into a putty-like material.
Tapping it the compound collapses turning to dust.
Sighing, Peter rests his face in his hands and groans, "Back to the drawing board."Ā
He grabs a blank loose leaf paper and starts rewriting the formula to his superglue.
He's not sure how much time passes but eventually he hears a knock at the door leading to the main house.
"Soldier, you've been down there for a few hours. You need to take a break." The voice of his uncle tells him.
"Alright, Ben. I just needā"
"Nope. I know if I let you, you'll be down there for several more hours, so come up now and eat something."
Peter groans, "Okay, okay." He sets his paper and pen down, and stands up before walking up the stairs. Entering the house, he walks to the kitchen where he sees his family sitting around the round dining table.
He sits down at the empty space and leans over to his little sister and kisses the crown of her head, getting a smile from her.
He grabs the fork and knife beside his plate and begins eating along.
"So how's your experiment going, soldier?" His uncle, Benjamin Parker, questions.
Ben Parker is an older man, sixty-six years old with a sand skin tone, receding short gray hair with a strong build from thirty seven years of service in the marines. Much like Peter, has the same shade of brown eyes hidden behind a pair of round glasses though they weren't anywhere as thick as his nephew's.
Peter frowns, "Not well. I can't seem to create the right chemical reaction for my superglue to remain in its proper form, it expands for a moment before becoming inert."
Ben nods along as if understands what his nephew is saying, "Right."
"I'm sure you'll get it eventually, you're such a smart boy, dear." His aunt, May Parker, consoles him.
May Parker is a middle aged woman, fifty four years old but looked a good ten or so years younger. She has a warm ivory skin tone, dark ash brown hair with hints of gray that barely touches her shoulders and baby blue eyes.Ā
The boy scowls, "Yeah but I've been working on this for six months and nothing is working."Ā
Ben and May look at each other before Ben clears his throat, "Maybe that's the problem, sport. You've become a little obsessed, working on this project all day, everyday, every hour. You know what I always sayā"
"Inaction is just as bad as doing a bad action?" Teresa Parker, Peter's sister, questions.
Teresa is three years younger than Peter, her skin is a tad darker than his from enjoying the sun more than him, she has long curly caramel brown hair that ends at the middle of her back, and hazel brown eyes.
And much to Peter's internal shame she stands only an inch or so shorter than him.
"Hate is a poison and love is the cure." May adds with a twinkle in her eye.
"With greatā"
"Okay." Ben raises his palm with a chuckle, "I meant that sometimes to see the whole picture you need to take a step back, breathe, and reevaluate."
Peter presses his lips tightly together, "I donā"
"Like you said, Peter; you've been focused on this project for six months, what's a few extra day?"
He slowly nods, "I guess you're right."
The man grins, "Good, then how about you and me go to this," He reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a folded piece of paper. "Science Exhibit, tomorrow." He hands it over to the boy who takes it and unfolds it.
Peter's eyes widen as he reads it, "Oh my God! General Techtronics is doing a demonstration of their Isotope Genome Accelerator!" He looks up with a wide smile. "We have to go! Beā"
The retired marine laughs, "Well of course we do, soldier! Why do you think I told you?"
Blushing, he rubs the back of his head, "Right, right. Sorry."
"Do you want to come, Sweetheart?" The man turns to the girl.
Teresa pulls a face, "No thanks."
"Come on Te, this demonstration is going to be awesome! Theoretically it can reconstruct the genetic make-up of an organism! Do you have any idea what that means?"
"I'm sure you're gonna tell me." His sister mumbles as she eats.
"That means all genetic diseases; gone! Cancer, gone! Thalassemia, gone! Huntingtons', gone! This! This!" Grinning, Peter vibrates in excitement, "Te, this could be the next step in human evolution!" He laughs. "Something that would have taken millions of years to occur can now happen in a literal blink of an eye!"
Teresa blinks slowly, "Cool."Ā
The boy slumps at her reply.
Ben and May chuckle at interaction.
"Don't pay her any attention Pete, I personally find it incredibly interesting." The woman tries to cheer her nephew up.
"You think everything I say is interesting, May." Peter pouts as he sits up straight.
May grins, "Your darn right, you're going to change the world and I couldn't be prouder."Ā
The boy blushes, "I think you're overestimating me, aunt May."
"I'm really not." May turns to look at her niece, "How's school going, honey?"Ā
Teresa's face brightens, "Awesome! I made a new friend, his name is Miles and he's super nice."Ā
"Yeah?" Peter hums in interest.
"Hm!" She nods, "Yeah, I was having trouble with this math problem and Miles helped me! He's super smart!"
The preteen smiles, "Well then I would love to meet him, Te. We nerds need to stick together."
"Don't call yourself a nerd, Peter." Ben frowns, pointing his fork at him.
He waves the man off, "It's fine, Ben. I've accepted what I am and I'm a grade A poindexter."
May's own face falls into a frown, "Peter, don't start calling yourselves names. Being smart is nothing to be ashamed of." She shakes her head. "Anyone who doesn't understand that won't get very far in life."
Peter sighs, "I know, May. I'm proud of how smart I am. I have a gift and I have a responsibility to myself and others to use it." He turns back to Teresa. "So, you've been having trouble with math?"
Teresa groans, "It's so hard! I don't understand fractions, like at all!"Ā
"After dinner I'll help you with your homework, make sure you understand it."
His sister nods, "Thanks Petey!"
"No problem, Te." He reaches over and ruffles the girl's head, she swats his hand away, sticking her tongue out at him before giggling.
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Peter can't stop shaking from the pure excitement of actually watching the Isotope Genome Accelerator in action.
He desperately wants to cross the yellow line and take a closer look at the ginormous machine taking up a good portion of the lab, the only thing stopping him is the knowledge that if he did he would be kicked out.
His uncle's firm hand on his shoulder also helps.
The accelerator looks retro futuristic, something Peter would see in an old nineties cartoon or comic book, it almost looked like two old-school sci-fi ray guns facing each other, ready to blow the other to bits.
"The Isotope Genome Accelerator or the Neogenic Recombinator as some of my colleagues like to call it, is the pinnacle of modern science." Doctor Eric Schwinner begins with a slight drawl to his tone, as if talking took a lot of effort out of him, "It uses an intense burst of ionized radiation directed at a target to destabilize their D.N.A, making it malleable and easily changeable."Ā
The scientist is a thin middle-aged man maybe around his late forties or early fifties. He stands about an inch or so taller than Ben at five foot-ten with balding dark brown hair leaving the top of his head bare and deep brown eyes that were almost black.
Peter listens intently, a million and one questions at the tip of his tongue.
"Now unfortunately we haven't begun testing with live subjects but we can demonstrate its basic functionality." Turning around towards a nearby console he begins typing away, the Isotope Genome Accelerator powers on, building up bright blue energy.
Unaware by anyone in the room, a small black spider had found itself inside the room sitting idly on the left end of the Isotope Genome Accelerator and radiation pours' into its small frame. It leaps away seconds too late to save itself from its fate before landing near the shoe of an unexpecting Peter, paralyzed.
The boy in question stares with facstation as energy pours out of the red bulbs and connects, creating a dazzling light show.
As the energy dies down Doctor Eric Schwinner turns back around and smiles proudly, "The testing we have done is limited, we mostly have focused on tissue samples from various animals such as cows, pigs along with rodents but we have made progress, one startling discovery is the perfect replication of the testing samples." Excitement oozes from his voice. "Any questions?"
Peter raises his hand high, raising himself up by the tips of his toes.
As the boy asks his questions the small spider bombarded by radioactive energy slowly starts moving again. It crawls onto Peter's polished dress shoe and squeezes itself inside, away from the world.
Schwinner's face slowly tightens as the boy's questions become more complex and harder to answer. Not that the boy notices though Ben certainly does.
The older man's face turns grim, he has seen that expression numerous times on Peter's teachers who feel insecure when confronted with his nephew's genius. Countless conferences called to talk about the boy's 'behavioral issues' that were just Peter finishing assignments early and studying much more advanced material that they thought were beyond him or correcting them on misinformation or going above and beyond when answering a question.
It was part of the reason why he allowed the boy to test out of school all together. The other reason, well just thinking about it still makes his blood boil.
Peter is much happier now, close to two years later since they've made their decision and now his boy is finishing his Phd in biochemistry.
He'll be the youngest person ever to earn one.
God, Peter is such a special boy. Why can't anyone else see it like he and May can?
"Also how doesā" Peter starts asking another question only for the scientist to hold up his hand.
"I think I answered enough of your questions, young man." Schwinner snaps out, "Does anyone else have any questions?" He looks to the other attendants rather pointedly.
Peter pouts but holds his tongue.
A few hesitantly raise their hands up and the Doctor almost sighs in relief.
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Harry Osborn stares at the back of the kid's head with pure awe. He didn't look older than nine or ten, eleven if he pushed it but the questions he asked, he could tell the guy who built the hunk of metal didn't know some of the answers.
Harry is a sixteen year old boy standing at five foot-seven with a strong medium build and a natural complexion. His light brown hair is slicked back, though unlike the boy's it has a bounce to it and his eyes are pure blue.
A thought came to the teen's mind; he wasn't the brightest bulb but he knew of an opportunity when he saw one. He needed a tutor if he was going to pass this semester and the tutors at school who did it for extra credit or because he was popular, wanting to get in his good grades just wouldn't cut it.Ā
Not definitely like the ones his dad hired who sounded dead, bored by their own shit, but someone like the boy.
He needs someone who actually liked the material they taught. Maybe it was only science that interested the pipsqueak but that was his worst subject anyhow.
As the presentation ends Harry follows the pipsqueak and their dad, thinking up ways he could start a normal conversation without looking like a complete fool or weirdo.
With a deliberating hum, the boy speeds up and puts his foot out, tripping the kid up, "Oh! My bad!" Harry's face screws up in mortification.
He helps the boy to his feet as they rub their ankle with a pinched face. Looking over the kid he hides a wince.
He's wearing a cream colored button up dress shirt tucked into light brown dress pants that were held up by matching suspenders, and polished formal leather black dress shoes.
With his hair pressed down to the skull with gel and those thick glasses held by nothing but a wire he looked like a nerd from an eighties sitcom.Ā
His dad is wearing something similar, which is probably where he got the style from but still, damn.Ā
This should be child abuse.
"I'm sorry man. You good?"
The tiny thing nods, "Yeah, all good." He mumbles out as his father rubs circles on his shoulder.
"Harry Osborn." He greets and offers a hand, usually he doesn't give out his last name to strangers but if the kid is as big of a nerd as he thinks thanā
The other's eyes light up, "Osborn! As in Norman Osborn?!"
Harry smiles and nods, it's a little tight but he needs this, "Yep, that's dear old dad."
"Uh, sorry for being out of the loop but who's Norman Osborn?"
The boy groans, "Ben!~"
Okay, so not his dad, noted.
"Norman Osborn is the founder, CEO and Chairperson of Osborn Industries! His company is the first and foremost lead on bioengineering and nanotechnology!" The boy lectures with an excited gleam in his eye, "He's probably the smartest man in New York, second only to Howard Stark of course."
Harry snorts and the child blushes, realizing what he just said.
"Sorry." He mumbles.
The teen waves him off, "Think nothing of it, kid." He adds the kid part, hopefully to remind he doesn't know his name.
"Oh! I'm Peter Parker!" The boy finally gives his name.
"Nice to meet you, Pete." Harry immediately goes for a nickname, forcing a bit of closeness.
The other's eyes widened and his cheeks dusk, "Uh, nice to meet you tooā¦ Har?"Ā
The teen's eyes sharpen; okay so obviously the tiny tike has no friends, starved for attention.
It's one thing to accept a nickname from a stranger, especially if you're used to people trying to establish a bond, but to give one out?
Yeah, this kid desperately wants friends.
He can be Peter's friend, a little weird but tolerable.
"I gotta Pete, you were amazing out there!" Harry smiles brightly, "You were throwing out questions left, right, and center!"
The boy's smile dims as his eyes shift to the ground, "Whā¦what can I say? I really like geneticsā¦"Ā
The older of the two boys hums, so inferiority complex? Kids this smart would usually boast their intelligence, making it their whole personality but he's trying to downplay it, mask it as simple curiosity and specialization.
Probably brought on by bullying, reinforced by social isolation; alright, Harry can work with this.
"You know, you really sounded like my dad." Harry casually mentions as he walks, forcing Peter to follow and the old man, Ben, being dragged along.
"Reaā¦really?" Peter questions with awe.
"Oh yeah! You should hear him sometime, when he finds something interesting he can drone on, and on, and on butā¦ I don't know, there's something cool about that, ya know?"
Ben, Peter's grandpa or uncle, maybe family friend hums absentmindedly.
Can't just get Peter on his side, need his guardian too. Hopefully he has enough sway with the brat's parents to let them hang out.
"Like, he just gets so excited." He smiles warmly at the boy whose already red cheeks brighten further, "He really loves science, it's his whole world and there's somethingā¦ magically about loving something so deeply, right?"
The oldest of the group's own face pulls into a smile.
"I guess so." Peter mumbles.
Yeah, Harry did too.
Truly.
Though he was lying out of his ass about Norman.
The man didn't love science, he was obsessed with it. The man wanted to strap it over a table and carve open its chest, dig around in its entrails until he knew every nook and cranny.
That wasn't love.
God, he hoped that wasn't love.
"I just wish I inherited the genius gene, you know?" Harry laughs with a tint of self-deprecation, a smidge of honesty coming through.
The teen really did wish he inherited his father's intelligence but that just wasn't in the cards.
"Science is my worst subject, which is saying something. I actually came here for some extra credit but the way I'm going, I'll be lucky to pass with D."
Peter looks confused, "A 'D' is passing?"
Harry huffs, "I'll take what I can get."
The boy laughs before snapping his mouth closed, flinching slightly away from him.
The old man puts a calming hand on his charges shoulder and Harry pretends he doesn't notice the sudden fearful shift in the air.
"Yeah, yeah." The older boy lightly knocks his elbow into Peter's shoulder with a light laugh of his own.
The kid relaxes at the motion and the teen sees a hesitant look in his eye, as if he wants to ask something but is too afraid to go for it.
Hook.
"I hired a few tutors but none of them really get it, you know? They memorize and regurgitate but I want to understand." Harry complains.
The younger boy licks his lips and opens his mouth before closing it, he seems to curl into himself a little.
"That sucks." Peter whispers.
Line.
"It does." The teen nods readily, "I don't know, I've asked my dad for help but he's always busy, can't really spare a second
He hired tutors of his own but it kinda seems like they don't really care about the stuff they're saying or maybe it's boring to them?" He questions with a hum. "I mean how interesting can it be to try and teach some kid the basics when you have a bachelors or a masters?"
"Wellā¦ umā¦ maybeā¦" Peter tries to talk but it ends up as babble, his enter face turning cherry red.
Sinker.
"Yeah?" Harry stops and turns to look at the boy, pushing as much friendliness into his tone.
The boy looks to the man imploring and this is why Harry always tries to win over the adults too.Ā
The geezer ruffles the pipsqueak's hair, "Maybe Peter can tutor you? I know he's young but I know he's qualified."
Harry raises an eyebrow, making sure disbelief isn't what is being seen but genuine interest, "Really?" Hope coats his words.
Ben nods proudly, "Yeah, he graduated high-school, two years ago and is now working on his Phd."
The teen blinks in confusion and then is surprised, "Whoa, you really are a genius."
Peter looks down with embarrassment.
"Ahuh!" Peter's guardian nods, "Smartest person, I know."Ā
The teen takes a minute, making it look like he's giving it some thought before looking at a nervous Peter.
"I mean, if you're sure, Pete? It sounds like you got a lot of plates in the air."Ā
The kid shakes his head, "N..no! I really don't! I'm almost done anyway, just a couple more months and I'm golden!"
Harry gives a grin, "Than alright! I'll give you my number and we can schedule something for later in the week! Sounds good?"
Peter nods enthusiastically, "Yeah, sounds good!"
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Peter can't stop the laugh bubbling in his throat. He made a friend!
He.Made.A.Friend!
The boy throws his shoes off to the side of his door and sits on his bed and stares at the number saved in his flip phone, now he has four contacts!
Best day of his life.
Absentmindedly he scratches at his right Achilles heel. He flinches but shakes it off.
Should he text him?Ā
No, that would be weird.
"Beep!"
Peter's eyes widened, Harry has texted him?!
Hey Pete! Got home safe?
The genius giggles.
Yeah! How about you?
He quickly texts back, his phone beeps again. The exchange between the two boys lasts for what feels like hours.
In fact, "Huagh!" Peter yawns and looks up to see the sun has set. The boy blinks, realizing he spent the rest of the day talking to his new friend.
He can't help but grin like a maniac, he couldn't remember the last time heā
The boy's smile dims.
Yes he could, he remembered spending nights at his best friend house, the two of them staying up all night talking. He sighs and shimmies off the bed and tries to stand.
"AgH!"Ā
Peter falls on his face, his right ankle screaming at him. Flipping onto his back, he looks down, pulling at his right pants leg and gags.
His ankle is bright pulsing red and swollen to the size of a grapefruit.Ā Blinking, his vision blurring despite wearing his glasses, he pokes at the lump with a shivering finger, it pops like a pimple and hundreds of spiderlings spill out, "AgggHHh!"
They crawl all over him, washing over him like a tidal wave.
"BEN! BEN!" Peter screams for his uncle, tears running down his face, "BEN, HeLp ME!" The spiders blanket over him, entering his mouth. "MmmMhhHhh!"Ā
The preteen tries to shake them off, his arms and legs flapping around but it's no use. He can feel them in his lungs, making it impossible to breathe, twisting on his front he tries to hack them out.
Peter grabs his stomach, feeling it expand. More and more until his flat tummy turns into a balloon, "Muo! MUO!" He tries to scream in denial butā
"POP!"
The boy screams as his eyes snap open, he finds himself on the floor of his bedroom, his face covered in vomit. He struggles to his knees and narrows his eyes at the light of the morning sun shining through his window.
"Peter!" Ben calls out from behind his door, the knob shaking back and forth from him trying to enter, "You okay, soldier?!"
Peter looks at the door uncomprehendingly, "Ye..yeah, nightmareā¦"Ā
The shaking of his door knob stops, "Oh, okay." The man sighs. "Sounds like a pretty bad nightmare, want to talk about it?"
He shakes his head but winces, "Nā¦ no, not right now."Ā
"Okay, well I'm here if you need me. Love you."
Peter hums mindlessly and tries to get to his feet, his whole body aching as he does.
He stares at the puddle of his stomach acid and half digested food along with his glasses, the boy stares in confusion as he pats his face.
The preteen can't see without his glasses, he's blind as a bat without them, yetā¦ looking around the world is clearer than ever, crisp.
Brighter in a way he simply can't describe.
He shifts and finds his shirt and pants uncomfortably tight, looking himself over he sees his pants are a foot higher and cutting into his calf while his shirt is biting into his elbows.
Peter stumbles to his bathroom, as he grabs the knob the metal crunches in his hand, he immediately lets go and stares. Slowly he reaches over again, using only his pointer and thumb to twist it gently as possible.
Entering the bathroom, he turns the light on and squeezes his eyes shut, "Fuck!" He curses as he presses the palms of his hands against his eyes.
He slowly pulls them away after a minute, blinking, his eyes readjusting and he stares at his reflection.
Peter's taller.Ā
Almost a foot taller than he was yesterday, five foot-five.
Ā Not only that but his features seem more defined, his skin clearer, his amber eyes almost yellow with how bright they are, and his thin reddish brown hair is thicker, brighter. So much brighter, an intense scarlet color.
Thisā¦ this isn't puberty. He walks out of the bathroom and sits on the edge of his bed, his breath coming out short.
'What's happening to me?'
Peter's mind tries to come up with an explanation, his hand snaps down to his right ankle; it looks perfect, nothing out of the ordinary butā
His dream, how much of it was real?
He looks towards the spot of the floor he woke up at and sees the vomit. So some of it was real, what could cause such symptoms like his swollen ankle, the loss of balance, vomiting, hullocations, maybe a seizure, and possibly reduced lung capacity?
A venomous bite.
He looks at his shoes tossed aside near his door and strides towards them, picking his right one up and he sees a black spider with a red hourglass on its back about the size of a penny curled into itself. To his horror it glows blue, much like the energy from the Isotope Genome Accelerator.
"Holy fucking shit." He mutters, "Did I get bit by a radioactive spider?!" His voice squeaks in disbelief. "How am I not dead!"
He needs to study his D.N.A and the spider.
Fast!
~Spider-Man Evolution~
Peter sits at his workstation wearing more comfortable clothes, a red hood and blue sweats. They're still tight but they do give him more breathing room.
The chemicals he was working on two days before is pushed to the side, as he stares at the screen of a thick gray laptop studying his genome.Ā
He's been in his lab for close to twelve hours genome sequencing his D.N.A from a blood sample along with studying the corpse of the spider and now he's trying to deceiver the variants of his genome.
Almost half of his D.N.A has been altered inā¦ fascinating ways.Ā
It seems like the black widow had, as he thought, received a dose of lethal radiation from the Isotope Genome Accelerator which altered its enzymes in its venom causing body wide mutagenic changes within himself.
Those changes should have mutated him beyond human recognition, killing him but for some reason didn't. He found his answer on his twenty-third chromosome, its function should have only dealt with sex but his X chromosome was odd.
Odd as in completely impossible.
After an unhealthy amount of research he found papers written by one Charles Xavier that discussed the possibility of a new species of homo-sapiens he classified as homo-superior, the next step of evolution derived from a variant of the X chromosome that he renamed the X-Gene.
From the study only one out of two hundred-sixty four people had it and supposedly it would grant an individual abilities beyond current human understanding.
Eventually.
Fantastically as it was outlandishā¦ except not really, apparently.
His X-Gene seemingly made him incredibly adaptable to foreign material when introduced into his system which would make him immune to any pathogens, diseases, and drugs.
The trigger would have been when he entered puberty, maybe, but the body-wide mutagenic change had forced it to prematurely activate.
"Peter! How long have you been down there?!"
The boy blinks, looking away from the computer towards the silhouette of his uncle. He looks back towards the right corner of the screen and reads the time.
9:00 p.m.
"Only a few hours, Ben!" He lies.Ā
"Really? Because Teresa told me you haven't left since she got back from school! So is six hours not a long time for you?!"
Peter winces, "Iā¦ took breaks!" He defends, "Really long breaks! Naps! I took naps!"
He hears the man sigh and mutter, "Just like poindexter."
The genius blinks, 'Enhanced hearing, checks out.'
"Just, get up here! Eat! Go to bed!" The man closes the door, Peter sighs only to flinch when it opens again. "And I swear soldier, If you take advantage of my andĀ May's busy schedule again, I'll tan your hide!" He closes the door roughly.
The preteen groans in his hands, "No wonder no one was bothering me, May and Ben were busy with F.E.A.S.T today." Yawning, he leans back and stares at the ceiling. "Running a shelter is hard work, huh?"Ā
Peter closes his eyes, despite working non stop for seventeen hours, from seven a.m to nine p.m he doesn't feel tired at all, so he lets his mind wonder, 'Especially because no one is sponsoring them, I had hoped by selling my superglue to some construction company after my dissertation I could help butā'
He sits up, a new idea for it sprouting in his mind, 'Ohā¦ oh!'Ā
He's been overcomplicating it, hasn't he? He should be thinking about it like spider silk, something incredibly strong and tough made with naturally forming protein.
He needs to start right now, well it's still fresh in his minā
"PETER!"
Jumps to his feet, he rushes up the stairs.
Tomorrow. He'll work on it tomorrow.